Aldhelm's De Laudibus Virginitatis With Latin and Old English Glosses.Manuscript 1650 of The Royal Library in Brussels.With an Introductory Chapter byDr. George van Langenhove by Aldhelm - 1941

Bruges: The Saint Catherine Press Ltd, 1941. Limited edition of 400 copies, this being no. 112. Hardback. Folio. pp. [6], 7 - 20, followed by the unpaginated facsimile pages, all separated by tissue guards. Brown cloth binding with cream cloth covered boards. Printed labels to upper board and to spine. Original box for the book. The MS contains Aldhelm's 'De laudibus virginitatis' written in a fair Old English hand, together with Latin and Old English glosses written in different hands. There are no illuminations, no richly decorated letters and the writing is not even enhanced throughout with capital letters. The MS seems to have been intended for daily use or study. The arrangements of the text not only permitted the provision of single words with synonyms, translations and diacritic signs, but made it possible to explain the contextual contents of words and phrases by supplementary notes etc. Although there is good agreement that the work dates from the tenth century, that is not the case for the glossators, of which there were several. There is no direct information about its history in England nor of how or when it came to the Continent. Book in very good condition. Boards lightly soiled. Free endpapers faintly toned and some very slight spotting to same. Text and facsimiles very clean aside from a couple of light pencil notes. Front paste down has the printed book plate of the late Eric Gerald Stanley (1923 - 2018), who was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford. Box in poor condition. All corner joints broken, generally rubbed and soiled and some spotting. Label lost. A large and heavy book. No additional shipping costs to UK post codes. If enquiring from overseas please ask for a shipping estimate.